Raven's Cry
by MahinaFable
Summary: In retrospect, openly betraying an ancient wizard may not have been Raven's brightest move... (Horror, one-shot)


**Raven's Cry**

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The wizard meditated. Of course, to an outside observer, it would appear that a mere teenage boy, and a rather short and scrawny one at that, had flopped onto his back and promptly fallen asleep. That was good. That was the sort of harmless, non-threatening image that would keep the wizard and his newest incarnation alive long enough to grow strong, strong enough to fend off the many threats to his person.

As the boy dozed, the immortal man contemplated the night's events. They had very nearly lost it all that night. Salem's disciples had laid down a near-perfect trap for Qrow, and if not for the unexpected intercession of a Faunus militia, all of Ozma's students would have perished. As it was, one of his young pupils had nearly died at the hands of the sadistic Fall Maiden, and the Relic of Knowledge was only recovered due to the actions of another.

Ozma was not pleased.

His trusted lieutenant had betrayed him, betrayed all of them, and all out of fear for his own life. He could scarcely recognize the proud lion Faunus he'd known in the visage of the trembling, sniveling coward he'd confronted. They'd found his body in his office, along with a Seer Grimm. A pitiful end to a once great man… at least it spared Ozma the difficulty of having Oscar take his life. The time would come, and soon, no doubt, where circumstances would force his young incarnation to kill another sentient person. It was always a traumatic experience, one that Ozma would prefer to delay as long as he could.

But Leonardo Lionheart wasn't the only traitor to have been revealed that night. Raven Branwen had led Cinder Fall and her team directly to them, using her portals and weaponizing her emotional connection to her own daughter against them. Ozma, for all of his plots and scheming, had always attempted to provide people with a choice, and even an educated choice, within the bounds of what he could disclose. Ceasing to operate as his spy upon the realization of Salem's immortality, while regrettable, was still understandable. Abandoning her husband and newborn daughter may have struck Ozma as contemptible, but it was none of his business. Returning to the Branwen tribe and making a living sacking caravans and pillaging villages was a problem, but a minor one compared to the more pressing concerns that Ozma needed to deal with.

But this? Siding with Salem, collaborating with her forces, and both facilitating and engaging in an assault on his students? Attempting to interfere with _his_ plans? No, that could not stand. Unfortunately, his current incarnation was nowhere near strong enough for such a battle, and his pupils needed to get the Relic to Atlas as soon as possible. Putting a direct stop to Raven's scheming was not currently feasible, but that did not mean that Ozma was entirely powerless to retaliate. Following the… debacle with the Maidens, Ozma had developed a measure by which magical power that he gifted to others could be recalled. A simple spell, but quite unbreakable.

The wizard _reached_, through mystic lines of power. Of the two conduits of transmutational dweomers linking him to the avian twins, one led to his faithful, if inebriated, ally Qrow. The other ran to his twin sister. Ozma "followed" that line through his arcane senses, eventually finding the small spark within her. With that done, it was a simple matter for him to draw it back into himself.

In the grand scheme of things, it was a minute amount of magical power, one not worth the accounting had it been the long-ago days of the wizard's prime. As it was, though, even that barest sliver of a fragment bolstered his current incarnation greatly. The wizard took satisfaction in the return of that power. Wherever else Raven Branwen might go in this life, she would no longer abuse his gift to her.

With that, the wizard allowed himself true rest.

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Raven flew through the skies over Patch, aimless. Everything she had done had come to naught, her logic undone by the prodding of a scared teenage girl. Raven had robbed, pillaged, kidnapped, and done bloody-handed murder to rebuild her people into a strong and fearsome bandit clan. With the Relic, she had thought to gain leverage sufficient to force both Salem _and_ Ozpin away from her for good, giving her free reign to roam and rule the wilds as she would.

It was all gone now. Her daughter had stood there and thrown her entire life's work in her face, tearing it down and leaving ashes in her wake. Yang had burned through all the rationalizations and the equivocating and presented her with a stark choice.

Either face Salem herself, or let her daughter take on the danger.

Raven did what she had always done.

Raven fled.

Her only avenue of escape had been to portal back to the man she had abandoned more than a decade and a half ago, and to the disgustingly quaint and peaceful island he called home. Raven had allowed herself only the barest of glances of him - why was he tending to sunflowers, of all things? - before flying away as far as she could.

The Bandit Queen spied a small cave in a mountain valley. It would do for shelter, letting her build up strength for the long flight to the Anima continent. She alighted into the cave and moved to revert back to her human form.

She failed.

Pure shock and confusion roiled through her. What was this? She tried again, to similar lack of success. Raven pushed and she pushed, but… the power was gone. It was as if trying to recall a face from infancy, a song half-remembered, or retracing one's steps of a day a lifetime ago. She could vaguely feel where the power had _been_, but the way was lost to her now, as surely as her ability to walk would be lost had her legs been severed out from under her.

In a panic, Raven flew back out of the cave, flying through pure instinct. This couldn't be! What was happening to her?! Raven had possessed the power to shift her form for decades, so why now, of all times, would her ability be lost to her now?

Unless…

No.

It couldn't be.

Ozpin had granted her that power, and now that he'd seen her turn against him, he'd taken it back.

At the worst possible time.

Raven tried over and over again to shift back. Over and over again, she failed. Finally, she did the only thing she had left to her. She screamed.

Raven screamed and screamed. She screamed out of panic. She screamed out of terror. She screamed out of loss and regret, from the realization that no one she had bonded to would ever see her again, and from the realization that that would scarcely mark a change to their lives.

She screamed her sanity away. The raven's cry echoed through the woods.

_Caw! Caw!_

**END**

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**Author's Note: Seriously, how dumb do you have to be to openly betray a **_**wizard?**_**! Sure, Ozma may not have yoinked his power back from her in canon, but does that mean he's unable to? Are you sure of that? **_**How**_** sure? Is it 'risk being trapped as a permanent bird' sure?**


End file.
